Algieri-Arnaoutis: Full Report & Photo Gallery

By Matt Richardson
Photos: Peter Frutkoff

Junior welterweight prospect Chris Algieri continued to climb the ranks of the 140-pound division on Saturday night in Huntington, New York with a tougher than expected ten-round unanimous decision victory against former contender Mike Arnaoutis. Scores were 99-91 and 98-92 (twice) for Algieri (17-0, 7 KO’s). Fightnews also tabbed Algieri the winner, albeit on a much closer score of 96-94.

The fight was the main event of a five-bout card entitled “Rockin’ Fights 9″ promoted by Joe DeGuardia’s Star Boxing.

Arnaoutis (24-9-2, 11 KO’s) had success early in the fight simply by being the busier, more aggressive fighter. He connected to the body in the opening round and scored well with a left over Algieri’s right in the second round. The bout tightened up in the third and Algieri did better in the fourth although he still took too many lefts than his corner would have preferred.

Algieri picked up the pace in the fifth and was more active, securing the frame despite getting caught along the ropes in the end of the frame. In the sixth, however, Arnaoutis noticeably slowed down, allowing Algieri to do good body work in the corner. Arnaoutis began to break down after that as his nose appeared broken and began to bleed. He was cut badly on the right eyebrow in the eighth, prompting a delayed opening to the penultimate round so the ringside physician could examine the injury. The fight was allowed to continue but the southpaw Arnaoutis was too physically beaten to repeat the success he had earlier in the fight and Algieri won the round and the fight shortly afterwards.

It wasn’t the most scintillating performance by “the pride of Huntington,” but Algieri said it looked more difficult from outside the ring than it was inside of it. “A lot of those punches were hitting the shoulders,” Algieri would later remark. “He’s a veteran, he wanted to see what I had.”

Undefeated lightweight Alan Gotay defeated Michael Doyle via six-round unanimous decision in the co-featured fight of the night. Gotay (6-0, 3 KO’s) simply outworked his opponent for large stretches of the bout. Doyle (1-3) had success in spurts but was unable to sustain any real momentum to change the bout. Judges scores read 60-54 and 58-56 (twice) for Gotay.

Junior welterweight Anthony Karperis was viciously stopped on his feet by Jonathan Cuba in the fifth round of a fight he was winning to that point. Karperis (4-2, 2 KO’s) had stunned Cuba (7-5-1, 4 KO’s) in the second on a sneaky left but was unable to capitalize on his success. Cuba bounced back well in the third round and the fight was on relatively even terms by the fifth. Cuba was measuring Karperis with his left before slamming Karperis with rights. With more than a minute left in the round, Karperis absorbed a final right along the ropes that snapped his head back and reddened the left side of his face, prompting the referee to call a halt at the 1:55 mark.

Vincenzo D’Angelo won a hard-fought four-rounder by unanimous decision against Michael Mitchell in a super middleweight bout. D’Angelo (6-0, 3 KO’s) had Mitchell (1-3) backtracking throughout the encounter as Mitchell’s corner implored their fighter to get off the ropes and into the center of the ring. D’Angelo scored points by digging to the body in all four rounds before both men ended the encounter by exchanging wide shots in the corner. Scores were 40-36 and 39-37 (twice) for the still unbeaten D’Angelo.

In a middleweight fight, Wendy Toussaint made his professional debut a victorious one via a four-round unanimous decision against the still winless On’rey Towns. All three judges submitted identical scores of 40-36 across the board. Fightnews also scored the bout a shut-out in favor of the quicker and more active Toussaint. With the loss, Towns drops to 0-2.

DeGuardia, who yet again put on a competitive card, stated that he hoped to return to the newly constructed venue (the clean and new Paramount only opened in 2011) in September. The promoter could possibly put a card on September 14 and follow it directly with a big screen viewing of the Floyd Mayweather-Canelo Alvarez fight in the venue.

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